Bedsheets
by Jess Violet
Summary: An original reunion. It's different than most. What if Annabeth can't take the suspense? She stays on the boat and Percy goes looking for her instead.


**I know I already wrote a reunion, and the book's coming out in a week. (AAAAAH, can't wait!), but I got this idea and really wanted to post it. So hope you like it. **

They stood on the deck, the ship lowering itself. Annabeth had gotten twitchier every minute. Piper was getting worried about her and when she was showing every possible sign of stress, she asked, "Are you okay?"  
Annabeth shook her head. "I'm not okay. I can't do this."  
"Yes, you can. Come on, Annabeth…" she even tried to use charmspeak, but it didn't seem to work.  
She looked away. "Is he here? Do you see him?"  
Piper looked down the side of the ship. She knew what he was supposed to look like, but the crowd of Romans was just to huge. "No. There's too many people."  
"I knew it!" she exclaimed. "I'm not supposed to find him. It's impossible."  
"Annabeth!"  
Annabeth shook her head violently. "No! No! I'm going inside. I can't, understand? What if…"  
Piper tried to grab her hand and pull her back, but she stepped away. "We've been through this. No 'what if's." But it didn't work. So now, she was here, surrounded by people she didn't know. Piper woke from her thoughts and looked up. _Great._ Jason was just here. Now he was swallowed by the crowd of his fans. She crossed her arms, thinking about what she was going to do now. Leo was off somewhere, flirting with poor Roman girls, Jason was off with fans, they had left both Hedge and Annabeth on the ship…  
She was about to turn around back to the Argo II, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She quickly spun around, ready for an attack. The hand belonged to a cute guy, about a year older than her. He was wearing a purple toga, that doesn't really fit him, had raven messy hair, a tan, and green eyes. She immediately recognized him from the picture at the bighouse.  
"You just came off that ship right?" he asked cautiously and quickly pulls back his hand.  
She nodded. "You're Percy, the missing hero."  
"I guess," he shrugged as if he's not used to being called a hero. Or he doesn't remember being one. She hoped it's the first. "I was just wondering..." he started, awkwardly rubbing his neck and glancing constantly at the ship. She nodded, waiting for him to continue. _Ask about Annabeth, ask about Annabeth.._. He dropped his hands and sputters, "Were only you three on board?"  
"Depends," she said, crossing her arms, daring him.  
"Depends on what?" he said confused. He was really as obvious as they say.  
"Depends on whether you have your memory back."  
He was confused about why it mattered and his face told her he was trying to figure it out. "Who's your parent?" he asked finally.  
"Aphrodite," she answered proudly.  
He groaned. "Perfect. Should've asked the repair boy."  
"What's wrong with my mom?" she said slightly offended.  
"Nothing," he said quickly. "Just that she's... How to say it... So in this situation, you know, now..."  
She decided to spare him from blabbering on and embarrassing himself even more. "Yeah, I know," she said, and saw him let out a breath in relief. "So you remember everything?"  
"Everything." he confirmed.  
"Then back to your first question, who are you hoping to see?" she asked, accepting only one answer.  
He shot her a look of _really?_ then sighs. "Is she here?" He was trying to keep the hope and eagerness out of his voice, but she could still make out the tremble that gave away his nerves.  
Piper held back a squeal by biting her lower lip and nodded. His face lit up "Into the hut, first right, down the stairs, left to the bunks, second chamber on your right," and he dashed in the direction of the boat. She followed him with her eyes and saw him almost trip over his toga a few times.  
Piper could see why those two were one of her mother's favorites.

Percy sprinted to the ship, pushing through the crowd of Romans, Annabeth the only one on his mind. He kept repeating her name in her head, as if she would be gone when he stopped. He ran up the plank, almost slipping off, and skidded the turn. He ran to the hut, throwing open the door. He was so lost in mind he jumped a feet in the air when an old jumpy satyr came at him with a swinging club yelling: "DIE!"  
Who wouldn't?  
"Woah! Calm down!" Percy yelled trying to be heard over the DIE.  
The half-goat did not calm down. So Percy used his experience with satyrs. "look, enchilada's!"  
The satyr stopped half-swing and half-die. He lowered the club, but didn't go looking around for the made up food. He eyed Percy suspiciously. Then his expression changed to surprise. "Percy?"  
_Crap_, Percy thought. _My memory is restored, right? Do I know this guy? Worry later_, he finally decided. "Yes, that's me, now please, can I just..." he slowly moved past the satyr talking. When he was inside the hut, he continued sprinting, trying to remember the girls instructions. He skidded a turn to the right, almost fell down the stairs, took a left, tripped over his toga, tumbled down the wrong second flight of stairs, ran back up going three steps a time, continued left and dug in his heels at the second door. His heart was beating in his throat and his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides nervously. He tried to listen at the door, but heard nothing. He doubted between storming in or knocking. He was here. So was she. _Now_ he got nervous. He raised his hand to the door, still not sure what to do.  
"Jason, I know you're there. I can see your feet under the door." He smiled automatically at the sound of her voice.  
He looked to his feet. Light shone from the small opening under the door at his shoes. He altered his voice to a squeaky sound, so she wouldn't recognize him. "It's not Jason."  
"If it's Piper, I told you, I'm not coming. I can't. If it's Leo, what the heck are you doing with your voice?" he now noticed her voice was trembling slightly.  
Percy tried opening the door, when he realized she was crying, had been or was about to. But he found it locked. So he ended up just rattling it, what freaked her out.  
"Whoever it is, go without me. I can't face him, okay?" she said. Her voice was yelling half the sentence, whispering the other half.  
Percy leaned his back against the door, "Why can't you face me?" he said softly against the lumber in his own voice.  
All sound on the other side of the door fell silent. No movement, sobs, footsteps, anything. Even the motors of the ship seemed to die out. Annabeth gave no reply either.  
"At least I assume you're talking about me, otherwise some guy is going to be really sorry," he added.  
Footsteps tiptoed to the door and through the door he felt a trembling hand on the other doorknob. She didn't open the lock. "Is it really you?" he heard, so soft he had to focus to hear it.  
"It is," he replied at the same volume.  
The doorknob moved, but fell back. She was scared. Scared it was imagination. Scared he'd not be there. Scared of being hurt, being left alone again. That he'd vanish again. Now she still had the perfect image of him. What if he had changed? Somehow, that was the scariest option. He still remembered her, still alive, there, but not like she knew him? Roman?  
"Open it," he said.  
He was the slight movement on the doorknob of her hand being pulled away. "I can't."  
"You can, unless there's a spider on the knob."  
He heard a stifled laugh. Though it was silent for a second while she double-checked that. Then she returned her hand to the door and so did he. Even through the metal they could feel each other's movements. Presence. First slowly, then with a quick twist, she opened the door.  
She looked up at him with a smile and yet so much sadness. Her eyes were red and puffy. Out of her mouth escaped a breath that sounded vaguely like his name.  
He gave her a lopsided grin. "Hi."  
She jumped at his with a bear-hug like she was never letting go. He returned it with the same force and buried his face in her hair. "I missed you," he whispered.  
Annabeth didn't say anything. She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck and encircled his waist with her legs. He supported her by holding her waist just as tight.  
He felt her tears in his neck. Her caught was breath trying to form his name or words. Percy had to shut his eyes to keep tears from forming in his. "It's okay. I'm not leaving again, Wisegirl."  
She sniffled another laugh at her nickname. "How can you be sure?" she then asked.  
"I can't." He knew he couldn't lie to her. "But I'll always return. That I can promise. I could never _ever_ forget you, Annabeth. That was proven."  
"You didn't?"  
"I woke up and all I knew were two names. Mine, and yours." He could feel her smile even though he didn't see it. He slowly set her down, but kept her in his arms. "So you can stop the timer now," he told her.  
She let out the breath she'd been saving all that time, finally being able to let that permanent little bit of stress go. "Eight months, two weeks, six days, five hours and about twenty-seven minutes."  
He fell silent. That long. And he was asleep for most of it. "I'm sorry," he whispered.  
Instead of scolding him, telling him not to worry or anything, she withdrew her head from his neck and kissed him sweetly and loving on the lips. When she pulled back, she went back to hugging him. They had to make up for a lot of time. They don't need to be always kissing, or yelling at each other. Now, they just mostly needed each other to be there.  
After a while, Annabeth spoke up again. "Percy?"  
"Yes?"  
"That dress looks pretty good on you," she murmured in his neck.  
Percy made a tsch-tsch sound still smiling, what made him wonder if he would ever stop. "Wise girl, you should know, this is not a dress. These..." he let one arm go of her for a second to gesture down on his toga, "...are bed sheets."

**Please review, I love reading your reviews! Even if it's only, I like it, I'm smiling for hours. **

**If you liked it, you might like my other story, Hate you too (very nice title, isn't it?) it's a tratie fic. **


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